Page 84 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

(

220 THE HADHRAMAUT

whirlwinds, from all sides, which disturb the dust. According to the
Arabs, a particularly hot windless period of about forty days occurs
with the changing of the monsoons. All travellers in the Hadhra-
maut make frequent allusions to the intensely high temperatures
experienced in the narrow confined wadis of tho interior. t
Van den Berg says : ‘ Sicknesses are relatively few, which is
quite natural, seeing the simple life led by the people, the pure and i
generally dry atmosphere of the mountains, and the total abstention
of the people from pork, opium, and alcohol. Cholera is unknown,
small-pox is never epidemic, but consumption is rampant, and there
are cases of leprosy.’ i
t

Population

The total population of the Hadhramaut is extremely uncertain,
and the various authorities give very divergent estimates. Mo ns.
Babahir, whom Van den Berg cites as having had considerable
facilities for judging, estimates it at about 150,000, which he dis­
tributes as follows :

From Shibam to Shabwah, including Wadis ‘Irmah, Dahr,
and Rashah .... . 20,000

Wadis ‘Amd, Do’an, and ‘Ain 25.000
Shibam to Terim (inclusive) . 50.000
Terim to Seihut .... 6,000
From N. of the main wadi to the desert 15.000
From S. of the main wadi to the sea 16.000
Shiheir, Makalla, and their environs IS,000
Total .... 150,000

Van den Berg, however, considers this estimate to be excessive,
seeing that the greater part of the region is uninhabitable and
unsuitable for agricultural pursuits of any kind. He himself gives
the total of the chief centres of population of the interior, viz.
Seyyun, Terim, Shibam, Ghurfah, and ‘Ainat (or Tnat), as certainly
not exceeding 29,500.

The people are known as Hadhrami and belong generally to the
South Arabian stock, claiming descent from YaTab ibn Qahtan
There is, however, a large number of ‘ Seyyids ’, or descendants
of the Prophet (described more fully below), and of 4 townsmen ’
of northern origin, besides a considerable class of African or of
mixed descent. But in spite of these variations the Hadhrami

• *. •:V

■